US Turkish group remembers exile of Crimean Tatars

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - A Turkish-American group remembered on Tuesday the roughly 230,000 Crimean Tatars expelled from the peninsula by the Soviet Union 77 years ago.

"Many trekked to Japan from where they immigrated to the United States. Many sought refuge in Turkey where they flourished in freedom, equality, and safety," the Turkish-American National Steering Committee said in a statement.

"During the deportation, approximately 110,000 Tatars died from starvation, disease, and forced labor. The deportation was based on ethnic and religious hatred against the Tatars. 77 years later, TASC remembers the Tatar Turks, who were torn from their homelands and brutalized at the hands of Stalin," it added.

It was referring to the former premier of the Soviet Union.